I was sitting here, snuffling into my Kleenex and struggling with the dreaded man cold this week, wondering what my first column as a free man would be.

Then it fell, literally, into my lap. Well, into my inbox on Facebook, but you get the picture.

My daughter Nicole called me first thing Thursday to tell me about a post on social media sites imgur and Reddit:

http://imgur.com/eMUHHs0

It's a photo of a napkin posted, we assume, by the couple who were the beneficiaries of a “pay it forward” gesture by my friend Lee Ballantyne.

Lee had dined alone in a restaurant in Barrie when he saw a young couple at a nearby table.

The note on the napkin reads, for those who aren't Internet savvy: “Hi! You don't know me, but my beautiful wife of 43 years died last week. Tonight I dined alone for the first time. You remind me of us many years ago. Please allow me to buy your dinner. Enjoy! It will put a smile on Carol's face and make me happy ... for now. Happy New Year. Lee B. Pay it forward.”

Many of you may recall Lee, he was editor of The Intelligencer in the 1980s and he was my boss here when I arrived in Belleville in 1979. He went on to be publisher of the daily in New Glasgow, NS, and retired as editor of The Advance, a Metroland weekly, in Barrie.

His dear wife Carol, who worked here as a secretary for Wolf Tausendfreund when Wolf was a lawyer at O'Flynn, Weese, Tausendfreund, and later as a secretary at Nicholson Catholic College. Carol died over the holidays from complications caused by a myriad of health problems and treatment for cancer.

Lee is a strong, compassionate man with a grand and often jaded sense of humour, like most of us in the word biz. He shares and bares his soul, sometimes, on Facebook and his FB friend learned Wednesday he had made this gesture. It was no big deal and Lee wasn't looking for accolades, just wanted to share his way of spreading the love and grieving in his own way.

But, the people to whom he paid it forward, who were the couple referred to in his napkin note, were touched enough to share it on social media.

Now, as they say, Lee's gesture has gone viral.

In the hours after it appeared on imgur and Reddit, the Internet, as it is wont to do, began to eat its own. There are heartless trolls who skewered the note, the gesture and even Lee. But, those morons are legion in the faceless world of the Internet. Thing is, it spawned a bunch of feedback, some of it of the non-jaundiced, supportive kind.

Sample: “It does look like this is original content, but OP (original post) seems to have been downvoted to hell already. I'm surprised you didn't even bother to do a search before making accusations. Give a dude due process before pitchforking him, will ya?”

It originally appeared on imgur, the online photo post site, but was scooped up and reposted on Reddit, a worldwide compendium of trending dross on the `Net. The Reddit site is full of vile observations on the original post and you can read those comments at your peril. It really is soul-sucking to see what some had written.

But the original image post is what made me proud to call Lee a friend.

Many of us struggle with the loss of a loved one. Lee and Carol were an inspiration in coping – most always, at least to us friends and family – with a smile and a kind word, caring always about how the rest of us were faring.

Now he moves on to a new chapter in his life without his dear wife and it's heartening to see he's taking the next steps on the wings of an angel.

Nice work, old son. Internet trolls aside, your gesture was an inspiration and brought a smile to this crusty curmudgeon's day.